Storia comune di Castellana Grotte provincia di Bari

The name comes from “Castellania”, that means “house of the castellan”, and in 1950 the word “Grotte” (that means “caves”) was added to indicate the presence of the karstic caves discovered in 1938. Probably it rose up in the middle age thanks to the monks of the Benedictine convent in Conversano, nearby the town, but the first document in which it is mentioned dates back to the X century. The monks and then the abbesses ruled the town until the XII century and later, after the plunder of the Hungarian army, it became part of the Conversano county.

Informazioni turistiche comune di Castellana Grotte provincia di Bari

The town is renowned to be the best place in Apulia to admire the karstic subsoil: there is no doubt that Castellana caves is one of the most important speleologist complex in Italy, and among the main tourist destination in Apulia. In the historic centre of Castellana there is the main church, Saint Leone Magno church, and the little white houses developed side by side beside the church. The town is furthermore distinguished by the “chianche”, a calcareous slab, used for paving streets and for building “trulli” and fortified farms (“masserie”) spread all around the countries that are especially planted with vineyard and olive, almond and cherry trees.